If we fail, we fall. If we succeed - then we will face the next task.

Success just means the next problem arrives

There's something almost relaxing about how Tolkien frames this. He's not pretending that success means you're finally done, that you've reached some permanent state of winning. Instead, he's saying: yes, you might fail and that would be bad. But if you don't fail? Well, then you just get a new problem. It's honest in a way that cuts through a lot of motivational noise.

What makes this useful today is that it resets your expectations in a healthy way. We often freeze before attempting things because we imagine success as this endpoint where everything gets easier. But Tolkien knew that a hobbit doesn't reach Rivendell and then sit around. There's always another mountain, another choice, another risk. So the question stops being "Will this finally fix everything?" and becomes "Can I handle what comes next?" That's a much clearer thing to prepare for.

The strange comfort here is that struggle isn't a sign you're doing it wrong. Completion of one task just means you're ready for another. That doesn't mean life is endlessly exhausting—it means you're never actually trapped by any single outcome. You're always moving toward something, which is its own kind of freedom.